Why Are More People Arrested For Marijuana Than Violent Crime?

Posted on October 12 2016

A recent study has found that a disproportionate amount of marijuana arrests are made in the US when compared with those of violent crime. Now, it wouldn’t be that bizarre until you realize the massive change in social attitudes as well as recent legalizations pertaining to marijuana. Many states have legalized and another handful have decriminalized marijuana, obviously no states have done either of these things when it comes to violent crime, which is understandable. For this reason, it seems completely bizarre that one set of figures should so outweigh the other.

These figures may hint to something a little more sinister when you consider that the majority of those arrested on marijuana charges are African-American, which seemingly builds upon an emerging pattern of police showing racial prejudice across America. This may indicate a level of corruption in some aspects, with violent crime requiring more scrutiny from a court. If this were to be the case, it surely would not account for the full extent of the figures.

Also, this shows that feds appear to be cracking down on marijuana possession even in spite of changing attitudes across the country. In my opinion, it seems like a ridiculous action to arrest people for the smallest amounts of marijuana, and for what? A higher number of arrests don’t necessarily lead to a lower crime rate. And many people looking at and judging an area will be way more interested in the number of arrests made for violent crime as opposed to who got busted with a dime bag of bud.